Promised Virgins
A Novel of Jihad
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- $249.00
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- $249.00
Descripción editorial
Veteran journalist Jay Morgan senses that the simmering conflict in Kosovo is about to take on a new dimension when he hears rumors that a mysterious bearded foreigner, bearing weapons and money and preaching Holy War, has appeared in the rebels’ mountain camps. What is this mysterious man’s mission? What new horror has he brought to the city? Together Jay and his translator, the beautiful Alija—who is searching for a missing brother and is herself a victim of the war—race to find this prophet of jihad.
Each danger-fraught foray across the lines and each interview— whether with a rebel commander, Serb sniper, or American spook tasked to evaluate and take out this new threat—brings Jay and Alija closer to each other and to the devastating truth about the conflict in the Middle East. Pitch–perfect and keenly observed, Fleishman’s novel delivers bracing suspense in a tale of substance reminiscent of Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fleishman, a war correspondent and Pulitzer Prize finalist, writes what he knows in this admirable but flawed Syriana-esque novel. Jay Morgan is a veteran journalist who has seen it all. Stationed in Kosovo and breaking a "cardinal rule" by sleeping with his beautiful translator, Alijah he is in hot pursuit of "the dateman," an Osama bin Laden like figure who has recently set up camp in the mountains. Meanwhile, Alijah, the survivor of violence, hopes to find her missing brother who she suspects has enlisted with the guerrillas. As Jay and Alijah inch closer to their goals, it becomes clear that the individuals they pursue are more entwined than they could have imagined. The specter of 9/11 hangs over Fleishman's account of war, which is often filled with rich and provocative insights. Yet despite occasional moments of revelation and beauty, the book's devastating conclusion doesn't pay off quite the way it should, largely owing to Alijah, who remains a mystery to Jay and thus comes off as a romanticized ideal. While the narrative hits the right intellectual notes, it misses the human ones.
